With the high holidays nearly over, the Washington Capitals returned to action on Thursday, playing host to the Carolina Hurricanes, who are not great. The game was quiet until late, when it got dangerous.

After a scoreless first, the Caps got on board twice in the second period — first with Chandler Stephenson exploiting a turnover forced by Smith-Pelly, then with TJ Oshie deflecting John Carlson’s shot on the power play.

Matt Niskanen left the game in the third period and shortly thereafter Sebastian Aho cracked Braden Holtby’s shutout bid. The Canes pulled Petr Mrazek late and John Carlson punished them for it, scoring an empty-netter instantly.

Caps win 3-1!

Well, this sure was a game. With both teams rested from the holiday, play was staccato and sleept (until the end). Both teams seemed cautious, keeping action away from the high-danger spots.

The flow of the game was nonexistent, especially in the first period, as the Caps practiced their penalty kill three times without faulting.

Those first two bullets are just fancy ways of saying this game was boring. There are 82 of these dudes per year; they’re not all winners, even if they’re won.

He won’t get credit for it on the stat sheet, but Devante Smith-Pelly (a recent scratch) created Chandler Stephenson’s goal in the second period by forcing a turnover. Stephenson was just sorta in the right place (the slot) as Smith-Pelly applied pressure. He apparently does not want to sit on Saturday.

The second line of Jakub Vrana, Evgeny Kuznetsov, and Tom Wilson was dominant. They saw a lot of Sebastian Aho’s line and Dougie Hamilton and won virtually every shift. Like usual, Vrana buzzed the net a handful of times without success.

John Carlson continues to rack up points, but his empty-netter was his first goal since October 22 in Vancouver, 26 games ago.